EuroRSCG - AgencySpy

Here’s Some Quick Clarification Regarding Havas and its Ties with Claire’s, Beam

Kiran Aditham — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:05:39 +0000

Over the last 24 hours, we’ve had a few seemingly panicked tips coming in regarding the status of Havas Chicago’s relationship with clients including spirits giant Beam such as ones like this: “We have just been told we lost Jim Beam. Only was told because of Sauza debacle. But Beam loss is big, it was our second [biggest] account.”

Well, once again, slow down for a sec. We’ve been told by sources in the know that Havas Chicago’s contract with Beam brands Sauza (you can read all about the recent ad controversy here) and Hornitos runs until 2014, and next year, the spirits brand has decided to focus on the Hispanic market and is therefore planning on moving its business for its aforementioned pair of tequila brands to a Hispanic agency. Still, Havas Chicago continues to work on Beam’s vodka brands including Pucker and Effen.

As for mall boutique chain Claire’s, which awarded AOR duties to what was then Euro RSCG Chicago last August, our sources tell us that the brand has built up its own marketing department in recent months and is taking most of the work in-house. Havas Chicago, though, will continue to work with Claire’s on a project basis according to those in the know. No word yet, though, if the Beam and Claire’s moves will result in any immediate cuts.

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Rogers Joins Up with Havas Discovery

Kiran Aditham — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:36:48 +0000

We’ve received confirmation that Carl Rogers has assumed the role of executive creative director at what is now Havas Discovery, the digital/analytics/CRM arm of Havas Worldwide. Last we recall, Rogers parted ways with Grey New York, where he last served as VP/creative on the Pantene business, a year ago. Unlike what tipsters are saying, though, Rogers joining Havas Discovery was not the handiwork of the agency’s Chicago CCO, Jason Peterson, but rather Paul Marobella, president of Havas Discovery.From what we’re hearing, British native Rogers is working across offices ranging from Chicago to Baltimore.

During his career, the creative has also served as copywriter/CD at the likes of Critical Mass, StrawberryFrog and Dentsu Amsterdam.

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And Now, a Quick Sonic/Havas Update

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:15:31 +0000

At the end of last week, we received a couple of notes in the tips box claiming that people at Havas Chicago (formerly Euro RSCG Chicago, of course) were “freaking out” because fast-food chain Sonic apparently pulled its account from the agency. Well, let’s clarify things to hopefully alleviate some of the panic.

We reached out to the Havas Chi camp and those in the know tell us that both the agency’s CRM account and piece of digital business for Sonic (which are handled out of the Havas Discovery unit) remains intact. What Havas Chicago is losing its in-store work for the brand, which the agency’s handled for nearly two years and includes POS, menus and packaging. Sonic, which is perhaps not so coincidentally is prepping a PR agency review, is actually moving in-store work in-house.

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Sabnis, Simpson Out at Havas Worldwide

Kiran Aditham — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 10:34:56 +0000

We’re getting word that the New York office of the agency formerly known as Euro RSCG has parted ways with two senior-level creatives, namely executive creative director Rahul Sabnis and CD George Simpson. When inquiring about both parties, we were told their name is no longer in the computer at Havas Worldwide. From what we’re hearing, longtime Euro–sorry, Havas–client Reckitt Benckiser, which appointed said agency as its global AOR over six years ago, is looking to “shake things up,” hence the release of Sabnis and Simpson.

Sabnis has spent the last five years at Havas, joining initially as creative director before eventually assuming the title of integrated ECD. Prior to Havas, Sabnis worked as an ACD at Digitas. Simpson, meanwhile, spent six-and-a-half years at Havas, working as ACD/copywriter before moving up to his most recent position. During his career, Simpson worked at the likes of Digitas and KBSP division, dotglu.

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Havas Officially Ditches Euro RSCG Brand Name

Kiran Aditham — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:44:43 +0000

Nearly six months after first announcing that it’s rebranding the Euro RSCG Worldwide network as Havas Worldwide, the latter holding company has finally cemented the transition by changing the name of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, North America to Havas PR North America. As a result, obviously, the Euro RSCG brand that consists of 316 offices in 75 countries and includes units such as 4D, Discovery and Life, is no longer and said units have been rechristened Havas Worldwide Digital, Havas Discovery and Havas Life, respectively.

In a statement, Havas Worldwide CEO David Jones says, “A decade ago, we set ourselves apart by being the first major communications holding company placing digital at the core of all our creative agencies. I think we’re once again pioneering through the integration of creative, media and digital. Today with the rebranding we’re making a small change, but it’s one we want to use as a catalyst for driving big change through Havas and the broader industry.”

Despite the rebranding, the existing leadership at Havas Worldwide, which also houses agencies such as Arnold and Victors & Spoils under its umbrella, will remain intact.

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Euro Chi Welcomes New ECD, Who Appears to Be a Big ‘Frogger’ Fan

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:02:05 +0000

After spending the last four-and-a-half years as integrated creative director at New York shop DeVito/Verdi, Tyler DeAngelo has headed to Chicago to assume the newly created ECD position at Euro RSCG. As ECD, DeAngelo, who also moonlights as an instructor at Miami Ad School’s Brooklyn location, will lead creative for a client roster that includes Cracker Barrel, Hefty, Playstation, Reynolds and Sears.

Prior to DeVito/Verdi, DeAngelo spent a few years as partner/creative director at a digital production company called Modern Publicity and had a two-year stint as a creative at Grey NY. Perhaps most interesting, though, are his non-advertising activities including his pet project “Fifth Avenue Frogger,” which is DeAngelo’s updated take on the classic game Frogger. George Costanza would be proud.

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Euro Chi Makes Some Cuts

Kiran Aditham — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 12:45:59 +0000

Guess it’s that kind of day. While we haven’t received official word on any approximate numbers or departments affected, a spokesperson for EuroRSCG Chicago confirms that the agency did have to let go of some folks. Tipsters are saying that mid/senior level staff were among those affected, but we haven’t received confirmation on this. What we do have for now is this statement below, which makes it seem that things are on the up and up for the most part. This latest round of news comes just a few months after Euro Chi cut five percent of staff due to Sprint (we’ve been told that the account loss didn’t play a role in this latest round).

“Euro RSCG Chicago continues to do well and is winning new business. In the next few weeks, we’ll be announcing two new business wins and two senior hires. While we’ve always been digitally focused, we’re evolving the way the agency works to be even more digitally driven. As a result, we have let go of some employees and hired others that are best suited for our new business.”

We’re expecting to find out about the “wins” and “hires” within the next week. Stay tuned.

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Euro Rings in Chicago ‘Bike to Work Week’

Kiran Aditham — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:25:53 +0000

If for no other reason, let’s at least enjoy the tune “When I’m Small” from indie duo Phantogram, who provide the soundtrack for this video from Euro RSCG Chicago that heralds the start of Bike to Work Week in the Windy City. It’s been a while since we’ve visited our old stomping grounds, but at least we get a decent glimpse as various Euro folks explain why they prefer two wheels to four and make us wish we were playing outside.

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Is Blake Ebel Out at Factory Design Labs?

Kiran Aditham — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:20:11 +0000

Yeesh, guess it’s one of those days. Something’s amiss at Denver-based Factory Design Labs as Blake Ebel, who resigned from his co-chief creative officer post at Euro RSCG Chicago in the summer of 2010 to join up with the former shop in the same role, is no longer on its agency leadership list. Ebel, if you recall, spent six years at Euro Chi and had a brief stint as co-CCO alongside Steffan Postaer, who also left the agency himself just six months later. During his career, Ebel has also worked as a VP, creative director at Y&R as well as senior art director at JWT.

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Sad Tips of the Day: Euro RSCG Chicago Edition (Updated)

Kiran Aditham — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:42:50 +0000

It appears the Sprint loss last December is still having its effect on Euro RSCG, particularly the Chicago office, which handled direct, mobile and email marketing efforts among other things for the wireless carrier until it handed its whole ad business to Digitas and Leo Burnett–aka, Team Sprint. Within the last half-hour, we’ve received several tips and IMs from folks who either were directly affected or were hearing secondhand. Here’s one tip: “Just got laid off with about 15-20 other people at Euro Chicago. All creatives.” Euro RSCG Chi has yet to comment on the matter, but we’ll do our best to make sure they do.

Update: Sources familiar with the matter have shed some light on things, telling us that “…the loss of Sprint required [Euro RSCG] to reduce staff by about five percent – overall they’re down around 10 people. Creatives were part of the five percent.” Our sources add, that Euro was “able to shift more than 30 off of Sprint and on to existing agency business,” which includes Playstation, Claire’s, Beam and Hefty.

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Michael Lee, Euro RSCG Part Ways

Kiran Aditham — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:34:25 +0000

Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Euro RSCG New York ECD Michael Lee is no longer with the agency. Guess it’s that kind of day. Lee moved across the pond 22 years ago, was made creative director of integration when Messner Vetere Berger Carey Schmetterer materialized as Euro RSCG in 2002 and eventually held a leadership role in the creative department at Euro’s New York office. Our sources say that it was Lee, who worked on Evian and Volvo among other clients during his time at Euro, who “led the decision” to part ways with the agency.

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Euro NY Nabs New York Life

Kiran Aditham — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:12:36 +0000

A spokesman for New York Life has confirmed that Euro RSCG has been selected as the company’s new agency of record and is beginning work on a new ad campaign for 2012. A month ago, Adweek reported that the three finalists vying for the insurance company’s creative advertising duties were Euro, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Carmichael Lynch. We’ve been told that “The Company You Keep” made its decision last week and the account will be run out of Euro’s NY office (as one would think).

The New York Life AOR responsibilities were previously handled by Taxi, which did not defend.

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Al Kelly Out at Euro

Kiran Aditham — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:27:07 +0000

Well, after hearing about this from tipsters for a month or so, we have finally received confirmation that Al Kelly‘s time as CCO of EuroRSCG New York has come to an end after just 10 months. Here’s the official statement: “Euro RSCG NY and Al Kelly have mutually parted ways, effective today. We thank Al for his contributions to the agency and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.”

Last year, when Kelly joined Euro, our former writer Inocul8tor predicted that the Fallon/Chiat/Goodby alum would last a month. Guess he beat the odds.

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Kashtan Joins Doppelt at EuroRSCG NY

Kiran Aditham — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 09:20:06 +0000

Well, it took them nearly a month after we reported it but EuroRSCG has confirmed that Steve Doppelt is joining the agency as executive creative director. Also joining in the ECD ranks is Steve Kashtan, who arrives from DDB New York, where he spent the last five years, give or take, as a creative director. Once again, Lee Garfinkel‘s co-chairman appointment at the start of 2011 may have had a little to do with the Kashtan hire as they’ve had some history at DDB and Lowe (while Doppelt worked with Garfinkel at Lowe on Sprite, Heineken and Sony among other accounts).

Doppelt will focus primarily on Dos Equis at Euro while his fellow ECD Kashtan will work on Charles Schwab and Kraft Foods. If you need history on Kashtan, he spent 10 years at Lowe and eventually moved up to EVP/GCD.

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Euro NY Welcomes New CSO

Kiran Aditham — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:58:51 +0000

Not sure if you folks got the memo, but just in case you haven’t, Euro RSCG New York has a new chief strategy officer by the name of Tom Morton (pictured), who arrives from Publicis U.K., where he held the same title for a solid 11 months. Morton’s new boss is Jeff Brooks, who took on the sole CEO role at Euro’s NY office after his partner-in-crime Pete Zillig split for a new “global role” within the network.

Anyhow, back to Morton. During his career, the new Euro CSO has worked for the likes of TBWA London, where he spent nearly six years and last served as executive planning director for the agency’s range of clients including Apple, Nissan, Playstation and Adidas. Prior to TBWA, the planning also racked up several years at both DDB London and RKCR/Y&R.

In a statement, Morton, who will work across Euro’s NY client roster that currently includes Dos Equis, Volvo, Kraft Foods, etc., speaks with the usual aplomb and hyperbole, saying, “The opportunity at Euro New York is massive. There’s so much to work with: the baked-in digital capabilities, the Future First positioning, the moxie of the people I’ve met. I’m going to enjoy building a planning culture to match the agency’s ambitions.”

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